If you like something…

Author Notes:OK, admit it. You’re at the party. You’ve had your crostini and cheeses, your seafood, your meatballs. You sampled the olives and nuts; the caviar and pate. Aren’t you dying for something sweet? Decadent, chocolate, rich. So delicious that one small bite satisfies.

Here you are: Chocolate.

I’m going to give you some suggestions for customizing these, but really, the beauty of this recipe is that you can make it your own. Enjoy them with an espresso or a glass of champagne. It’s a party! Have fun!
—drbabs

Melt butter and chocolate in a large heavy pot over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat so it can cool a bit. While it's cooling, whisk together flour, espresso powder, cocoa, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled to lukewarm, whisk in granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking after each addition until incorporated, then add vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.

To make them pretty and evenly shaped, place the batter in a ziploc bag, cut off one corner, and squeeze the batter evenly into the wells. (This works with smooth batters; is more challenging with the chunky ones. You can use a tablespoon.) Fill just below the top of the wells. (Refrigerate unused batter till ready to use. It may make the batter a little difficult to squeeze or scoop, but if the butter gets too soft, it sort of melts in the wells while baking and the brownie bites are difficult to remove.)

Bake in the middle of the oven for ~12-15 minutes, until a tester comes out with moist crumbs still adhering (if you like soft chewy brownies). If you prefer cakelike brownies, bake an extra minute or two. Better to underbake these--they will continue to bake when you take them out and they are very small.

As soon as they are cool enough to handle, carefully remove them from the pan and let them cool on a wire rack. To serve, you may dust with powdered sugar and/or sprinkle with flaky sea salt.

I have made these several times. Once was for my youngest nephew's high school graduation, and once for our psychology department's dean's list reception. My one change was to frost them with a bit of Nutella. In both cases, these disappeared quickly. Even my colleague, who often declines baked goods, was quick to say "yes" to my offer to let him take the remaining brownie bites.

I measure my flour what is your 1 cup measurement? The difference can make or break a recipe & it can be anywhere between 4 or 5 ounces. Perhaps you sweep and scoop? If you would be so kind as to let me know - I really want to try this recipe. Thanks so much!!!!

I have, probably a dumb, question. As I read through instructions, I don't see where there is a cooling off period between melting the chocolate and butter and then adding sugars and eggs. I take it, its not necessary to wait for a cool down? I also saw no mention of the same question and no one mentioning it. I don't know if that means that it's understood the chocolate and butter and sugars will be warm, and it's not a problem, or that it's understood in cooks world, that you cool down the butter and chocolate before adding the eggs. Thank you.

Annette, it's not a dumb question... It's dumb recipe writing. There is a bit of a cooling off period or the hot butter and chocolate will cook the eggs. I think that's probably why I have you put together the dry ingredients after everything has melted. I'll edit it for clarity. Thanks for the feedback. I hope you enjoy them.

These are in the oven now. No mini muffin tin so I'm using a standard, half filled. I only had 90% and 85% chocolate so I mixed those, and I added a splash of Patron Tequila Coffee Liqueur in place of the powdered espresso. Going to be good! Thanks

I had a question that I posted to the Hotline related to the adaptation of this recipe to use for cookies. Many knowledgeable people chimed in, and I posted a detailed report of the results of my further playing with the conversion. Here's a link, for anyone who is interested. http://tinyurl.com/Food52HotlineQ... ;o)

I made these last night with gluten free flour and they are just perfect. I used Ahern's GF mix, which is (as far as I know) not a brand, but a recipe (you can google it to find combination of ingredients), and my favorite to date. The GF flour might have made them a bit harder, but not much. They are very chewy 14 hours later!

Another outstanding recipe, drbabs! I had a bit of extra dough, which I scooped directly onto a parchment lined biking sheet, then baked as cookies. They turned out really well. Definitely a keeper. ;o)

Thanks; only a couple didn't release right away, most likely because I didn't butter those spots thoroughly . I plan to get a non-stick pan before making these again, to speed up the clean-up I was pleased though at how well this batter worked to make ciookies. There is something magical about biting into what looks like a cookie, but has the texture and unmistakable flavor of a dark chocolate brownie, ; o)

These are amazing! Didn't have espresso powder so I added one shot of espresso when melting the chocolate. I needed to cook them about 5 minutes longer. I mustn't have buttered the pan well enough because they stuck a bit. Next time I'd go for the mini muffin liners and remove them before serving. My friends said they had thought about skipping the brownie bite because, after all, they were just brownie bites. With once the first bite, and ensuing "OMG's" were heard round the room, the plate was quickly emptied. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for letting me know. And you know what you said about your friends skipping the brownie bites? that's exactly why I created this recipe. I had been to one too many parties where someone brought brownie bites from Costco and I thought, there has to be a better way. I'm so glad you and your friends enjoyed them.

These were insanely delicious and really quite easy! The coffee/salt combo really enhances the deep chocolate taste. My daughter loves mint so we took a suggestion from a comment on the Jenny's in the Kitchen thread and pressed a Junior Mint into a trayful and that was a huge hit.

I just whipped up a batch of these and all I can say is YUM! I made one batch plain, one batch I topped with sea salt and the final batch I added in butterscotch chips. I honestly could have eaten the entire batch. Plus, it was so easy to make, and they look adorable when baked in the mini-muffin tin.

Help!! I am starting to make these and just noticed that the recipe says to use non-stick mini-muffin tins. Mine are conventional. What should I do, other than go out and buy a non-stick one? Thanks so much!! ;o)

Is there a brand of Dutch process cocoa that you prefer for a treat like this? And if so, where do you buy it? This is on the menu for a special brunch I"m hosting next Sunday to welcome some new neighbors.Thanks so much. ;o)